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IUCN on extinction crisis
Submitted by Martin Williams on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 23:30IUCN press release:
Life on Earth is under serious threat, despite the commitment by world leaders to reverse the trend, according to a detailed analysis of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™.The IUCN analysis, which is published every four years, comes just before the deadline governments set themselves to evaluate how successful they were in achieving the 2010 target to reduce biodiversity loss. The IUCN report, Wildlife in a Changing World, shows the 2010 target will not be met.
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Boost Drupal website speed
Submitted by Martin Williams on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 00:29Looking for info on ways to enhance a Drupal website's speed, I found methods tended to be for hotshot developer types, perhaps in charge of their own servers. But there are methods, including using Drupal's own caching plus the Boost module, that work for me on shared hosting.
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Carbon payments can protect wildlife
Submitted by Martin Williams on Fri, 06/05/2009 - 10:57Press release from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
JAKARTA (5 June 2009)—A new report published today provides compelling evidence that paying to conserve billions of tons of carbon stored in tropical forests could also protect orangutans, pygmy elephants, and other wildlife at risk of extinction. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Conservation Letters, is one of the first to offer quantitative evidence linking the drive to reduce carbon emissions from forests with the push to preserve threatened mammal biodiversity.
“Our study clearly demonstrates that payments made to reduce carbon emissions from forests could also be an efficient and effective way to protect biodiversity,” said Oscar Venter, a biologist at the University of Queensland in Australia and the study’s lead author. “We now need to see policy discussions catch up with the science, because at the moment the potential co-benefits of linking forest protection to biodiversity are not getting the attention they deserve.”
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White Storks in Poland in real time
Submitted by Martin Williams on Mon, 06/01/2009 - 15:46I've received email from Eva Stets, South Wielkopolska Group of Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (PwG OTOP), re a webcam at a White Stork nest in Poland; you can visit website, and see the birds in real time.
From the email:
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Beidaihe Can Create Exciting Bird Reserve
Submitted by Martin Williams on Sun, 05/24/2009 - 16:26[Based on speech I gave to audience inc leaders, at Beidaihe in May 2009]
I first visited Beidaihe in spring 1985, as leader of an 8-member expedition studying bird migration. At the time, Beidaihe was almost unknown as a place for birdwatching: we were mainly relying on information from a Danish scientist, Axel Hemmingsen, who had studied birds at the town from 1942-1945.
The spring expedition was very successful; our results included 652 Siberian Cranes – more than 40 percent of the world population known at the time. We sent the results to organisations including the International Crane Foundation; the foundation director, Dr George Archibald, had encouraged the study, and he now encouraged me to work on a long-term project at Beidaihe.
I returned as leader of a follow up study, this time of autumn migration, in 1986. Again, this proved a great success: our records included 2729 Oriental White Storks migrating south: this was more than double the previous estimate for the entire world population (900-1000), clearly showing the importance of Beidaihe for studying migratory birds.


I continued returning to Beidaihe, leading more migration studies, also leading bird tour groups, and sometimes coming on holiday. As well as watching birds at Beidaihe, we also visited other places in the area.
In all, I have spent around two years at Beidaihe, during 12 or more visits. I have been fortunate and privileged to have seen many birds, and enjoyed thrilling birdwatching experiences; as well as to have helped discover “new” places for birds, such as the Luanhe delta, Qilihai, Happy Island, and Old Peak. Also, I have made friends at Beidaihe.
Beidaihe has become like a second home to me. I know the town well, there are people who welcome me; and I feel comfortable here partly as my home town – Scarborough, England – is also a seaside resort town, where I grew up watching migratory birds.
Beidaihe Can Create the World’s Most Exciting Migratory Birds Reserve
But, why have I kept returning? The main reason is that I believe Beidaihe can be a great place for conservation. There are many birds; plus there are many people – both residents and visitors, who can be given opportunities to enjoy seeing and learn about wild, migratory birds.
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Mexican swine flu not so scary
Submitted by Martin Williams on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 13:55After a fair amount of research re flu, sparked by interest in relationship between wild birds and flu, I've been highly impressed by notions stemming from evolutionary biology - which suggest a potent flu pandemic won't happen in absence of social conditions akin to World War One trenches.
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U.S. Study Projects How 'Unequivocal Warming' Will Change Americans' Lives
Investment banker Steve Crower has sent me link to his video on Peak Oil, 91 86 90:
Just seen daft posts on Facebook:
Email from Eva:
Here's a shot by Eva, taken during the rescue operation [after chicks saved from choking]:
Climate Progress has post saying it's likely there will be more severe Atlantic hurricanes. Includes:
Why global warming means killer storms worse than Katrina and Gustav, Part 1
From MIT:
Climate change odds much worse than thought
New analysis shows warming could be double previous estimates
I'd thought this situation seemed custom made for Niman: fears re a pandemic; some info, but much unknown, many people wanting to find more - a ripe situation for fear-mongering.
Seen that Niman has already announced a pandemic; not sure how many pandemics he has announced so far... Bet those acolytes who kept the flu faith are well excited.